Six-way rotary inclined plane centering switch



Dec. 9, 1969 T. H. JOHNSTONE E AL 3,483,337

SIX-WAY ROTARY INCLINED PLANE CENTERING SWITCH Filed Jan. 6, 1967 5Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS eazirre ffi/mszone, 5

firzZwUZ/Weper ATTORNEY 1969 T. H. JOHNSTONE ET AL 3,483,337

SIX-WAY ROTARY INCLINED PLANE CENTERTNG SWITCH Filed Jan. 6, 1967 5Sheets-Sheet 2,

ATTORNEY Dec. 9, 1969 Q T. H. JOHNSTONE ET AL 3,483,337

SIX-WAY ROTARY INCLINED PLANE CENTERING SWITCH Filed Jan. 6, 1967 3Sheets$heet 3 \NVENTORS' i506 flaw/7 ATTORNEY arf/zo 6 er United StatesPatent US. Cl. 2006 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In a preferredform, this disclosure relates to an electric switch for controllingoperation of a six-way seat adjuster mechanism. The electric switchcomprises a switch housing means having an opening in a side wallthereof, a plurality of spaced fixed contacts carried by the housingmeans, a manually manipulatable actuating means supported by the housingmeans for pivotal and turning movement relative thereto, mobile contactmeans supported by the housing means and cooperably engageable with theactuating means so as to be movable therewith when the actuating meansis moved from its normal position, and a means for biasing the actuatormeans toward a normal position. The switch further includes a pluralityof spaced projections on the actuating means which are progressivelytapered toward an apex remote from the actuating means and which arereceived in adjacent depressions in the side wall of the switch housingmeans. The depressions are progressively tapered toward an apex at thecenter of the depressions and the projections and the depressions serveas a guide means to guide the actuating means back toward its normalposition upon release of the actuating means after the latter has beenmoved to effect the desired movement of the seat.

This invention relates to electric switches and more particularly to asingle electric switch adapted to connect appropriate electricalcircuitry allowing an automobile seat to be positioned selectively inany of six directions by moving a switch actuator in a correspondingdirection.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improvedelectrical switch arranged to position an automobile seat substantiallyin the same direction as the direction in which the actuator of theswitch is moved.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improvedelectrical switch for the selective positioning of an automobile seat insix directions in which the switch has very few moving parts and. whichis automatically centered after actuation and guided during actuation.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide animproved electrical switch for the selective positioning of anautomobile seat which includes means carried by the actuator cooperatingwith portions integrally formed with the switch housing to guaranteecentering of the subject switch after an actuating movement in anydirection.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improvedelectrical switch for the selective positioning of an automobile seatwhich sequentially energizes operating circuits in a seat positioningsystem to bring about proper operation of the positioning mechanism.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention isclearly shown.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of the subject invention shownin its operative environment;

3,483,337 Patented Dec. 9, 1969 FIGURE 2 is a sectional view of thesubject invention taken along line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along line 44 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is an elevational view taken in the direction of the arrow 5 inFIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken along line 66 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken along line 77 of FIGURE 2.

Referring to FIGURE 1, an automobile seat, designated by the numeral 10,is shown as having switch 12 mounted on the side thereof so thatmovement of knob 14 corresponds in direction to the desired direction ofseat movement. Three jackscrews, not shown, are positioned under seat 10and connected through flexible drive cables 16, 18 and 20 to solenoids22, 24 and 26 to position the seat in the desired manner. The seatpositioning mechanism herein shown functions in much the same manner asthe seat positioning mechanism shown and described in Patent No.3,288,947.

The operation of the subject seat positioning mechanism involves areversible motor 28 having an output 7 means 30 connected by thesolenoids 22, 24 and 26 to appropriate drive cables 16, 18 and 20 toposition the seat 10 as desired. The function of switch 12 is toappropriately connect output terminal or contact 32 of battery 34sequentially to the solenoid or solenoids necessary to bring about aparticular seat movement and later to the motor 28 to the appropriateleads or fixed contacts 36 or 38 selecting the proper direction of motorrotation.

Referring to FIGURE 2, actuator knob 14 extends through aperture 40formed in the wall of switch body 42. A cross-shaped member 44 isconnected to knob 14 in any well-known manner and responds, therefore,to movement of knob 14 to bring about a switch actuation. Member 44 iscomposed of any well-known insulating material having a configurationbetter seen in FIGURE 4.

As shown in FIGURES 2 and 6, substantially pyramidal or conicalprotrusions 46 extend from an upper surface of member 44 and cooperatewith substantially complementary pyramidal-shaped or conically shapeddepressions 48 formed on an inside wall of housing 42. These depressions48 are better seen in FIGURE 6. The protrusion 46 are actually cammembers following the contour of depressions 48 and, in view of the factthat any movement of protrusions 46 is from the base of the depressions48, the tendency of member 44 carrying protrusions 46 is to align withthe base of the depressions 48 when acted on by spring 50 seen in FIGURE2.

Spring 50 is carried in pocket 52 of member 44 and bears against contactcarrier 54 sometimes referred to herein as movable contact means.Contact carrier 54 has formed therein pivot contact 56 normally disposedin pocket 58 formed in the head of fixed contact 32. Therefore, it isreadily seen that spring 50 is normally compressed between member 44with protrusions 46 bottomed in depressions 48 and carrier 54 with pivotcontact 56 bottomed in pocket 58. Therefore, the tendency of theactuator knob 14 and connected member 44 is to align with a centeredposition where knob 14 is not influenced by any external force.

Referring to FIGURE 3, the first of several guide features of thesubject switch are shown in which a shank 62 of knob 14 is seen to besubstantially square and centered under static conditions betweencomplementary shaped slots 64 formed in a wall of housing 42. The shank62 cooperates with one of the slots 64 when knob 14 is tilted in any offour directions from a centered position, such as would be accomplishedwhen the knob was moved to bring about vertical or horizontal movementof seat 10. Cooperation of shank 62 with slot 64 guarantees the exactalignment between the appropriately positioned fixed contacts in thehousing base and the movable contacts carried by contact carrier 54 tobring about sequential circuit energization as desired to bring aboutthe desired direction of seat movement.

Referring to FIGURE 3, another guide means is illustrated to assist themember 44 to be more exactly positioned. Nipples 66 are integrallyformed with housing 42 and cooperate with complementary shapeddepressions, not shown, on the side of member 44 during tilting movementof member 44 to guarantee precise alignment of member 44 relative tofixed contacts formed in the base of housing 42. In the same mannerelongated arms 68 integrally formed with member 44 cooperate with slots70 formed in rail 72 which in turn are integrally formed with housing 42to guarantee alignment of member 44 during tilting movement in anotherdirection. In addition, upstanding member 74 integrally formed with rail72 limits the twisting movement of member 44 so that contacts in thehousing base are appropriately engaged when tilting movement of seat isdesired.

Referring to FIGURE 2, contact carrier 54 is always aligned with member44 by being constantly engaged by slots 76 formed in member 44. Theseslots are also seen in FIGURE 4 wherein the cross shape of member 44 isclearly seen cooperating therewith.

Referring to FIGURE 1, solenoid contacts 78, 80 and 82 are shown asfixed contacts extending from the base of housing 42 and are connectedto the appropriate solenoids. It should be understood that only threejackscrews are needed to position the seat six ways in that twojackscrews operate vertically with respect to the seat and the singlejackscrew operates horizontally with respect to the seat. Therefore, thetwo vertical jackscrews operating together and the motor operating ineither of two directions brings about the upward and downward movementof the seat. Either of the two vertical jackscrews operating alone withthe motor direction appropriately chosen results in a forward orbackward tilting of the seat which brings the total seat motionspossible, utilizing the two vertical jackscrews, to four. The horizontaljackscrew can be operated with the motor running either direction tobring about forward and backward seat movement resulting in a total ofsix ways of seat adjustment. With the foregoing kept in mind, solenoids78, 80 and 82, operating alone or together as selected, can position theappropriate drive cables 16, 18 and 20 to the motor 28 first duringswitch operation with the actual direction of motor rotation chosenlater during an actuating movement of the subject switch. Consequently,solenoid contacts 78, 80 and 82 are engaged by leaf spring members 84,86 and 88, respectively. These leaf spring members are more clearly seenin FIGURE 7.

Referring to FIGURE 5, motor contact 38 is seen as being connected tofixed contacts 90 and 92 by a conductive strip 94 and motor contact 36as connected to contacts 96 and 98 by conductive strip 100. The relativeposition of contacts 38, 90- and 92 as Well as contacts 36, 96 and 98 tothe leaf spring members 84, 86 and 88 is best seen in FIGURE 7.

In operation, when it is desired to position the automobile seat 10, onemovement is necessary in order to connect the appropriate circuitryusing the switch of the subject invention. Only one cycle of operationwill be described in view of the fact that the cycle of operation forseat movements other than the one shown as an example is identicalexcept for the specific contacts engaged. Taking, for example, movementof the seat in a forward direction, as viewed in FIGURE 1, knob- 14would be tilted to the left, as viewed in FIGURE 1. Referring to FIGURE2, the tilting of knob 14 to the left would result in protrusions 46riding up the sides of depressions 48 against the bias of spring 50 aswell as one of the arms 68 being driven into contact carrier 54. Powerfrom fixed contact 32 would be connected through contact carrier 54 toleaf spring member 86 which is connected, as previously stated, to fixedcontact 80. Fixed contact is connected through a lead 102, as seen inFIGURE 1. The solenoids 26, which is the horizontal solenoid connectsdrive cable 16 to the horizontal jackscrew, thereby connecting power tomotor 28 in a well-known manner poising motor 28 for operation of thejackscrew. Further deflection of contact carrier 54 already engagingleaf spring member 86 would eventually bring power from fixed contact 32through contact carrier 54 and leaf spring member 86 to fixed contact 36which has, as previously described, a motor contact driving motor 28 inthe appropriate direction. The appropriate jackscrew is turned and theseat is adjusted as long as knob 14 is tilted, as previously described.

When external pressure is removed from knob 14 after the seat has beenadjusted an amount desired, spring 50 drives protrusions 46 to the baseof depressions 48 resulting in a centering of member 44 and knob 14.Contact carrier 54, of course, follows the movement of member 44 andleaf spring member 86 resiliently returns to its poised position, asviewed in FIGURE 2. The switch is now poised for another actuation toposition the seat as desired.

It is obvious that the multiplicity of contacts, leaf springs andconductive members located in such close proximity in a switch housingsmall enough to be positioned in its operative environment requires veryprecise movements of the switch parts. The design of the subject switchwith its various guide means and centering means guarantees that propercontacts are made as required and that the actuator automaticallycenters itself after a. switch actuation to be ready for a subsequentswitch actuation.

It is clear that the utility of the subject device need not berestricted to the environment of a seat adjuster but this environment isone in which utility of the subject invention is best illustrated.

While the embodiment of the present invention, as herein disclosed,constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other formsmight be adopted.

What is claimed is:

1. An electric switch for controlling operation of a six-way seatadjustor mechanism of an automotive vehicle comprising: a switch housingmeans which is adapted to be carried by the vehicle and which has anopening in a side wall thereof; a plurality of spaced fixed contactscarried by said housing means; a plurality of spaced leaf springcontacts having one end fixed to the housing means and their free endsdisposed above respective ones of said fixed contacts; a manuallymanipulatable actuating means supported by said housing means forpivotal and turning movement relative thereto, said actuating meansincluding a handle portion extending outwardly of said switch housingand a second portion disposed interiorly of said switch housing, saidhousing means being adapted to be carried by the vehicle such that theactuating movements of the actuating means correspond to the desireddirection of seat movement; a mobile contact means supported by saidhousing means for pivotal and turning movement relative thereto; springmeans for biasing said actuator means toward a normal position and saidmobile contact means into engagement with said housing means, saidmobile contact means being cooperably engageable with said actuatingmeans so as to be movable therewith when said actuating means is movedfrom its normal position; said mobile contact means including aplurality of radially extending arm portions having their free endsnormally disposed above the free ends of said leaf spring contacts andsaid fixed contacts; said mobile contact means being sequentiallymovable into engagement with different ones of said leaf spring contactsand said fixed contacts when said actuating means is selectively pivotedin different directions from its normal position to effect differentdirections of movement of said seat and said mobile contact means beingmovable into engagement with different ones of said fixed contacts whensaid actuating means is turned relative to said switch housing, saidsecond portion of said actuating means having a plurality of spacedprojections which are progressively tapered toward an apex remote fromthe actuating means and which are received in adjacent depressions inthe side wall of the switch housing means, the depressions beingprogressively tapered toward an apex at the center of the depression,said projections and depressions serving as a guide means to guide theactuating means back toward its normal position upon release of theactuating means after the latter has been moved to effect movement ofthe seat, said second portion of said actuating means also includingslots whose" side surfaces are engageable with said arm portions of saidmobile contact means during 'pivotal and rotational movement of theactuating means to main- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS2,808,476 10/1957 Elliott.

3,254,163 5/1966 Wanless 2006 3,288,947 11/1966 Wanless et a1. 20062,941,048 6/1960 Lybrook et a1. 200-15310 X 3,219,784 11/1965 Toruk eta1. 200-153.10

ROBERT K. SCHAEFER, Primary Examiner R. A. VANDERHYE, Assistant ExaminerU.S. C1. X.R.

